Class Action PTSD Discharge Upgrades

Class Action Allowed Over Navy PTSD Discharge Upgrades

The Navy Discharge Review Board was dealt a blow last week when a senior judge certified a class action lawsuit over unlawful denials of PTSD discharge upgrades.

The Marine veteran leading the charge is Tyson Manker. Yale University law students represent Manker and other veterans by its Veterans Legal Services Clinic.

Veterans given less than honorable discharges for minor infractions related to their PTSD filed the lawsuit against the Navy for wrongful discharge updated denials. The Army and Air Force decide 51 percent in favor of the applicant. The Navy and Marines decide 16 percent of the same claims in favor of the applicant.

Seem off?

Senior US District Judge Charles Haight Jr. seemed to think so when he certified a class action lawsuit against Navy Secretary Richard Spencer in Connecticut.

Judge Haight is a dual Yale alumni and member of the elite fraternity Skull and Bones.

As a judge, he has presided over numerous high profile cases involving fraud allegations against Morgan & Stanley Co, Lehman Brothers, and other similarly suited. Since 2001, Haight has reduced restrictions on police surveillance even when there exists no evidence of a crime.

Manker, the lead veteran, believes thousands of others are adversely impacted by wrongful denials of discharge upgrade requests.

“It is a national disgrace,” said Manker, who served during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. “By taking this action with the courts we intend to restore the rule of law along with honor for thousands of patriots who were treated so poorly by the nation they served.”

Manker is joined by the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress. The organization represents other veterans with less-than-honorable discharges.

“We made mistakes with how we treated the Vietnam generation, before PTSD was well understood, but now we are doling out the same injustice to the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Garry Monk, executive director of the council.

“We are thrilled with the court’s decision and look forward to creating a world where it doesn’t take years of wading through unlawful procedures for these veterans to get relief.”

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8 Comments

  1. Hmm. What are “minor infractions?”

    Not much mentioned by the powers that be, groups, about the … “Vietnam generation.” Another very deep subject along with the many causations of PTSD or life changing traumatic experiences that changes people perceptions of real life. A lot of it classified as unmentionables in military of civilian life.

    Battlefield trauma, charges for trying to self-medicate since people aren’t supposed to “whine?” Negative effects from forced SSRIs? The myriad of false diagnosis. So-called “blanket parties” for some coming forward over some sexual attacks or some other wrongs that are a unmentionable. Better to classify them as nuts and hand out bad papers to shut them up or get rid of them. For not agreeing with official narratives like the John McCain family secrets and wrong doing then facing some consequences. Easier to dump people with bad paper than investigate and expose some wrong doing especially if it will give some things in the military a black eye. The machine has to make the real victims look as crazy or unbelievable as possible which the VA and Gov., seem excellent at to cover their own butts. Could be bad news for those out there with some trauma and dual, or more, diagnosis of “whistle blowing” over some particular issue. To countless vets being told bad paper can turn good in a year so just by filing a piece of paper to the Gov which is total propaganda and lies too.

    There’s thousands of stories out there to be heard but few care or would dare listen to some of the crap allowed to happen for generations.

  2. It’s not just the Navy DRB. The Navy’s Physical Evaluation Board stats are atrocious compared to the other services. Mr. Krause and this website are focused on the VA. But some real scrutiny needs to be given to the Department of the Navy overall on how they treat disabled servicemembers, Navy and Marine. t’s not a coincidence that this class action is against the DoN and they also had that other one they lost regarding taxing combat related injuries. And lord forbid if you are an injured reservist in the Marine Corps or Navy. Attitude is that you should just go to the VA and it’s not there problem.

  3. Im about to file for a discharge upgrade for this same reason. I am one that was admin sep due to “borderline personality disorder” in 2003 from the usmc. I attempted suicide because my husband was abusive and tried to kill me, he was usmc mp and threatened to kill me at my job infront of other coworkers and i was still denied a military protective order, they had some meetings between mine and my husbands company where i was told they were showing pictures of my dark bruises and defending him claiming my bruises were tattoos, that ontop of my mst experiences stressed me out and i began having depression and panic attacks, i went to a chaplain for help, im not even religious but i had nowhere to turn to, he was unavailable though and after that i tried to end my life. This was right around the time everyone was deploying from camp lejeune, the doctor i seen at the hospital told me he was recommending me for discharge due to borderline personality disorder, i remember him asking me “do you know what that is?” I said, “sounds like you think i have an attitude problem” lol
    During my brief stay at a hospital i learned of other people – male and female – that had been sexually assaulted, they told me they were called liars and that they would be discharged too. At that point i didnt want to be in the military anymore so i accepted the discharge, but even if i wanted to appeal it i wouldn’t have been able to, everyone worth leaving was leaving the base for deployment, and by then i knew they were prejudice against women and so it wasnt an environment i wanted to be in anymore. For some reason people like hearing about veterans time in the service “why didn’t you stay in longer” people always ask, “the military ain’t for everyone”, I always say, it sure as hell wasn’t for me. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Its been 15 years since my discharge, I just got rated 100% service connected ptsd, I received my medical records and in them theres proof I reported sexual assault, its in the doctors notes and that damn doctor somehow confused ptsd with borderline personality disorder. Would have been nice to know about the symptoms of ptsd once i was discharged so i knew what help to get. I did 2 years of dbt for bpd, went to groups and felt like i couldnt relate all because of wrong diagnosis, at the same time i struggled with panic attacks and depression when i didnt even know what it was, i ended up picking up an eating disorder, and several more attempted suicides, I gave up my rights to my kid because i didnt know what was wrong with me, and if you dont understand whats wrong how could you get the correct help? Come to find out bpd discharges are just an easy way to discharge people they dont like and limit their benefits. I’m just pretty much disgusted with all the corruption at this point. Sorry for rambling

  4. Thanks for being a great advocate for us the veterans and for keeping us informed of the constant changes that keep evolving in our daily lives, have a great Thanksgiving

    1. Ok this is way out there but has any thought ever been given to claiming smoking related problems are service related?? Hell the Army supplied a 4 pack of Cig’s in every c rat meal during Vietnam and cartons of smokes in the SP packs .

      1. And how about the alcohol, and the drugs that were issued? The stimulants, the benzos and steroid injections.

  5. We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
    My husband is finally starting to feel better.
    Our clinic closed down in Orange City. They reopened in another city but forgot to tell the Veterans.
    Nice. We tried calling them and the phone was disconnected. So I thought they just changed their number. No they moved. And if you looked online they had an open house at a Different building. Guess w her it was at a humane society office. Yes that’s right. I finally called triage and got the real address and phone number.
    What a hassle.

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